We were thrilled to have my sister, Mel, and her boyfriend, Regan, arrive in Australia for 3 weeks to attend Regan's sisters wedding and were able to do a fair bit of sightseeing and visiting while they were here.
I picked Mel and Regan up from Regan's brothers in Brisbane on Saturday, April 13th to come stay with us for a couple of nights. On our way to the Gold Coast we stopped at the famous Yatala Pie Shop for some amazing pies. Meat pies are really popular here in Australia. It was rainy and cool that afternoon so we spent some time at the giant Timezone arcade, than headed to the Infinity Attraction. Infinity consisted of a series of lights, mirrors and glass in several dark rooms with pounding music to make up a maze of optical illusions. It was a lot of fun trying to find the next little room to see what surprises it would hold.
The following day Mel suggested we rent stand-up paddle boards. I didn't think I would be much good at it and was concerned about the sharks in the canals/rivers here but was willing to give it a go. It turned out to be a lot easier than I had anticipated. It was a lot of fun and a really good work out.
We circled around the river and paddled up a small canal where Mel pointed out a couple of sting rays resting in the shallows!
Mel and Trevor getting out on the boards
Trevor
After paddling on our own boards for a while Mel and I got
lazy and decided to share a board and sit-down paddle
On Monday we went to the Currumbin Wildlife Park for the day. We watched a crocodile show, pet kangaroos, viewed a bird show as well as seeing dingo's, wombats, koalas and snakes. That night we dropped Regan back off in Brisbane from where he would travel to his hometown of Theodore.
Giant Croc!
Feeding the lorikeets
Cassowary; an extremely dangerous bird found in Australia. It is similar in size to an Ostrich but known to be violent; but of course Trevor ignored the signs and tried to feed him :S
Wombat getting his dinner
Birds of Prey show
This little bird makes the most interesting sounds. We originally
thought there was some sort of alarm going off within the park.
thought there was some sort of alarm going off within the park.
Huge snake!
Tiny gecko
Mel and Regan viewing the Tree Kangaroos
Tree Kangaroo
Mel and Trevor went diving at Julian Rocks in Byron Bay on Wednesday. They were lucky enough to see 
Mel and Trevor
Julian Rocks
Leopard Sharks
Mel
Trevor
Friday Mel and I headed out to Byron Bay again; this time to go on a kayak tour. Byron Bay is known for the hundreds of dolphins and turtles that live within the bay both of which we spotted on the tour. Returning to the beach we had to ride a wave in, with the person in the back doing the steering. I was in the back and I didn't do such a good job steering; we ended up turning parallel with the beach and the waves dumped us over. At the end of the tour we were treated to "bikies" or (Tim Tams to be specific!) on the beach and asked to haul our kayaks back up to the street. We had brought the kayak down pretty easily but were having extreme difficulty bringing it back up and couldn't understand why. Finally after everyone was gone from the beach except the guides, they offered to help us. Turns out our kayak was completely full of water (not where the seats are but on the actual inside of the plastic kayak) and 3 guides struggled to drag it in. We had thought the paddle back into shore was more difficult.. turns out it was because we were carrying a lot of extra weight and were sinking!
Melanie ready to paddle
The guides encouraged us to try standing in the kayak which we
each gave a try and were able to do without dumping it over!
Byron Bay lighthouse in the distance
Mel
Dolphins swimming near us
Melanie taking pictures of me while I struggle to pull the kayak that is full of water in.
On Saturday, April 20th Mel, Trevor and I boarded a flight to Cairns, Australia. Cairns is the town located nearest to the Great Barrier Reef.... pics and details to come...
